How to Spend a Day on Malapascua Island: Get the Local Experience
Malapascua Island is a remote island in the Philippines best known for its scuba diving, but there are many other great reasons to visit. In fact, my local experiences on Malapascua Island were the highlights… even though the diving was great!
Let’s take a look at how to spend a day on Malapascua Island to get the best of both worlds.
Find out how to get to Malapascua Island from Nearby Bantayan Island in my Island Hopping in the Philippines: Bantayan Island to Malapascua Island post.
Scuba Diving on Malapascua Island
Start off your day with one of the best activities on the island… scuba diving! Malapascua Island offers the incredible opportunity to swim with Thresher Sharks – one of the few places in the world that you can do it. I’ve detailed out everything you need to know about scuba diving on Malapascua Island in a separate post due to the immense details you may want.
However, as scuba diving typically takes place early morning, you’ll still have plenty of day to work with. In fact, I finished diving by about 7:15am. This means you have the whole day ahead to determine what to do! It is the perfect opportunity to explore the island. If you’re lucky, like me, you’ll have some friends or roommates who are also interested in this.
Simply walk or find a motorbike into town (three per motorbike) and start exploring! This includes of course finding a delicious lunch.
Attend Local Events on Malapascua Island
After lunch we wandered the dirt paths through the village and heard of a cock fight going on that afternoon. To find the cock fight, we started heading that direction by simply asking locals, they would point, and then further along we would ask again. All of the kids we encountered were so happy and wanted high fives.
Gambling Games on Malapascua Island
We arrived at the cock fight a bit early and spent some time trying to understand a gambling game the men were playing. It involved dropping three coins through a metal loop onto a circular cement block. If they stayed on or fell off the cement block and if they landed on the silver vs black side must have been how they determined who won. We never quite caught on. There was just a lot of money exchanging hands. It also explained to me where all of the small bills go since no one ever has change… They hoard them for gambling.
Cock Fights on Malapascua Island
As the cock fight got closer dozens of men could be seen carrying around their prize roosters like an American football. The crowd was slowly multiplying resulting in about 50 people. It was all local men with the exception of the of us tourists – including three women.
One of the locals explained some of the terms behind the fight about how they have to size up the roosters to find an equal competitor. Once there was agreement with the owners, long razor blades were carefully attached to one leg of each rooster and carefully covered to keep the people from being stabbed.
Betting started taking place as soon as the competitors were chosen, but once they entered the ring more bets were placed. We never really understood how they keep track of bets or pay them out as it seemed like chaos to us… But then everyone circles around the ring and a man “referees” and one man is assigned to care for each competitor.
There was some kind of anger inducing “meet and greet” where one would be forced to peck the other. Then, right before the fight the razors were uncovered, and they were off! Once one of the roosters was decapitated or killed, the fight was over.
The winning rooster’s owner received both roosters and money for winning. Generally, the dead rooster was dinner. We only stayed for three fights, although apparently there were four that day. It was fascinating to learn about and also interesting that this is what Sunday’s on the island meant.
Once we had enough, we thanked the locals for allowing us to watch and headed through the dirt paths towards the beach front for happy hour.
Take Advantage of Happy Hour on Malapascua Island
One of the best parts of day on most of the islands in the Philippines is sunset. There are so many beach bars on the beach offering drink specials and giant bean bags or other comfortable chairs to watch the amazing sunsets. Simply find one of the many beach bars to settle in to watch the sunset and hang out.
As the island is small, you will run into the same people over and over again. I ran into my friends from the previous island again and again. It was a relaxing day that ran into evening and a late dinner for us. Unfortunately, as it was Sunday, finding a ride back to our hostel was challenging, and we toured the rest of town looking for drivers. Eventually we found some and made our way back.
The next morning would be early for me as I made my way back to the main island and eventually Boracay, so I headed straight to sleep when we got back. What a lovely island Malapascua had turned out to be. The locals were really so friendly and inviting!
Need to determine how to get from Malapascua Island to Boracay? Here’s a Step by Step Guide to get you there.
Explore More of The Philippines
Malapascua Island is a wonderful place to experience local Filipino life, particularly because those living on the island are super hospitible.
Want to learn more about visiting The Philippines? Here are some additional helpful posts.
- Boracay Travel Guide: Paradise, Parties, and Puka Shells
- 8 Reasons to Visit Manila in The Philippines
- 14 Travel Tips for the Philippines: Know Before You Go
- How to Get from Bantayan Island to Malapascua Island: Island Hopping in the Philippines
- Budgeting for the Philippines: 2 Week Itinerary plus Costs
- Renting a Motorbike to Explore Bantayan Island
- How to Travel from Malapascua Island to Boracay: A Step by Step Guide
- How to Spend a Day on Malapascua Island: Get the Local Experience
- Scuba Diving on Malapascua Island: The Essential Guide
- How to Get from Cebu City to Bantayan Island: A Step-by-Step Guide
